Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1887-03-26

| come out at Oxford. The Buddha,
who is said to be second only TO Christ,
made use of words to the following Ell
feet: birth is suffering. Decay is
suffering. Illness is suffering. Death
is suffering. Presence of objects We
hate is suffering. Separation from J.
jccts we love is suffering. Not 10 90
rain what we desire is suffering. Cling
ing to existence is suffering. Complete
cessation of thirst of craving for eXis-
tence is cessation of suffering and the
eightfold path which leads to cessation
OF suffering is right belief, right as
piration, right speech, right conduct,
right means of livelihood, right en-
deavOr, right memory, right medita-
ton. This is the noble truth of suffer
ing"
And nov, with all reverence, | turn,
on the other hand, to the first gracious
words which proceeded from the mouth
of the founder of Christianity. as given
by St. Luke: 'FThe spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed
me 10 preach good tidings to the poor;
lc hath sent me 10 heal the broken
hearted, ~ preach deliverauce to the
captives, and recovering OF sight to
the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised, to preach the accepta-
BILE year of the Lord" In contrasting
these u%tterances of two eastern teachers
II of whom we Christians believe
TO be divine, | ask, what is there of
hope for poor suffering humanity in
the first utterance of Budda? Is it not
| nnra iilya n laofh InalI than q unioo
proclaiming good tidings of great Joy
to poor suffering sinners? And here l
seem to hear some learned Orientalist-
perhaps there are some present at this
meeting-remark, "Of course it was
impossible for Buddha to speak of the
Spirit OF the Lord, when he denied the
existence of all spirit, human or divine;
when he denied any being higher than
himself, the perfect man; but assured
" il must be admitted that Buddba
preached his gospel to the poor!"
Well, bear with me for n little longer,
while | point out q few other contrasts,
showing how vast is the gulf which
separates the gospel of Buddha from
the gospel OF jesus Christ. And l feel
I am compelled to speak out on this
occasion, even as l spoke out recently
at Oxford in contrasting Tie NCda of
the Brahnins with our OWN HOLY
Bible; Tor a kind of doctrine called
N~e0-HudGhi.W Is spreading, l an sprrl
T. say. ~ iG"i,v places both III EurJpg
AID ameg.r3, ans ..iso in India, where
we hope nat buddhism had been
long extinct. This new doctrine mag
mites Buddhism as if, forsoOth! it Were
a very rational sort Of creed tor an in
teiIiaent man to hold in the nineteenth
Century. Yes, monstrous as. it may
seem, the gospel OF Christ u Saviour
the gospel Of peace-is ia ON quar-
ters becoming out OF fashion, and Civ
ing place TO the gospel of misery-the
gospel Of Buddha.
Mark, then, two or three more con-
trasts which make the gull | spoke of
just now wholly impossible to be
bridged over. In the gospel of Buddha
we are told that the whole world iieth
in suffering, as you. have just. heard
In the gospel of Christ the whole world
lieth in wickedness. "Glory in your
sutferings rejoice In them; make them
steps toward heaven" says the gospel
of Christ. "Away with all suffering;
stamp it out, for it is the plague of hui
manity,' says the gospel of Buddha.
''The whole world is enslaved by sin,"
says the Christian gospel; 1.-The whole
world is enslaved by Illusion says the
Buddhist gospel. "Sanctify your at.
fections," says the one; "Suppress
them utterly" says, the other. "Cher-
ish your body, and present it as a liv-
ing sacrifice to God" says the Christian
gospel; "Get rid of your body as the
greatest of all CURSES" says. the Buddh-
ist. I'VE are Gods workmanship"
says the Christian gospel, land God
works in us and by Us and through
u.s." 1--WE are our own workmanship"
says the gospel Of Buddha, ''and no
one works in us but ourselves Lastly,
the Christian gospel teaches us to prize
The gift OF personal life as the o
sacred, the most precious of all Gods
gifts. ellie is real, lite is earnest" il
seems TO say, i'll the words OF the great
American poet and it bids us thirst
not for death, nor for extinction, bur
for the living God; whereas the Buddh-
ist doctrine ~stigmatizes all thirst for
life as an ignorant biunder, aud sets
forth, as the highest eff ali aims, utter
extinction of personal existence.
/ have said enough TO put yOu en-
Your guard when you hear people
speak 100 highly of the sacred books
of the east other than our own Bible
Let rs not shut our eyes TO what is ex-
cellent and true and of good report i'll
these books: but let MS teach Hindoos,
Buddhists, Mohammedaus. that there
is only one sacred book Of the east that
a be their mainstay, their support, in
that awful hour when they pass all
alone into the unseen world. There is
only one gospel that can give peace to
the fain,ing soul then. 1t is the book
that this great society is engaged in
sending to the uttermost ends of the
earth. 1t is the sacred volume which
contains that faithful saying worthy TO
be received of all men, women and
children, and not merely of rs Chris
;ians, that Christ Jesus came into the
world TO save ~Siuners.n